2a state of confusion or lack of orderHis financial affairs are in a tangle.

3(informal)a disagreement or fight

Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘entangle, catch in a tangle’): probably of Scandinavian origin and related to Swedish dialect taggla

‘disarrange’

.Extra examplesI had to pick my way through the tangle of bodies.She brushed the tangles out of her hair.She ran her fingers through the tangles in her hair.The legal tangle was never really unravelled.This string’s in a tangle.a complex tangle of loyaltiesa confused tangle of voicesa dense tangle of undergrowthher hair was a mass of tanglesHe got into a tangle pronouncing her name.These arrests have created a diplomatic tangle.